Making a killing shot like that on a moving deermade me feel bigger and more. important.Too bigand important，I thought，to fuss about Little Arlissand that old yellow dog. I still didn”t like thethought of keeping him，but then when you arenearly a man you have to learn to put up with a lotfrom silly little kids. Let Arliss keep the thievingscamp. I could shoot enough meat for him too！
我 把鹿横缚在“跳高能手”的背上，自己则骑在它的后面，往小木屋走去。作为一个能为家里人打到野味的猎手，我感到很得意。能够这样击中一只在奔跑着的鹿，使我感到自己长大了，变得更重要了。
我暗自思忖，既然自己已经长大，而且这样重要，就不应该再为小阿里斯和那只老黄狗的事而去自寻烦恼了。我还是不想收留那只老黄狗，但是当你差不多已经是一个大人的时候，你得学着容忍孩子们的很多蠢事。就让小阿里斯去养那只偷嘴的狗吧！反正我能打到足够的猎物供它吃的了！
That’s how I was feeling when I crossed BirdsongCreek and rode up to the spring under thetrees below the cabin. But all at once I didn’t feellike that any more. There was Little Arliss in thepool again. And in the pool with him was the bigyellow dog. That dirty old thieving dog playing aboutin our drinking - water！
当我骑着骡子渡过鸟鸣河，朝小木屋树丛下的那个小泉走去时，我正是这样想着的。但是突然我又改变了主意。小阿里斯又泡在水池里了，和他一起在水池里的还有那只大黄狗，那只肮脏的、偷嘴的老狗竟然在我们的食用水里嬉戏呢！
“Arlis s ！”I yelled at Little Arliss.“Ge t th a t na s -ty old dog out of the wa te r！”
“阿里斯！”我朝他大喝一声，“快把那只脏狗赶出水池！”
They hadn”t seen me ride up，and my bigshout gave them a pretty big surprise. Arliss wentrushing out of the pool on one side and the dog onthe other. Arliss was screaming his head off，andthe big dog with the wet hair standing up high onhis back was coming for me，barking as if I was apanther.
他 们没有看见我骑着骡子走来，所以我的高声喊叫使他们大吃一惊。阿里斯赶快从池子的一边爬出来，那只狗从另一边逃出来。阿里斯没命地尖声喊叫，而那只大狗，背上那湿淋淋的毛高高地竖立着，朝我走来，对着我狂叫，好象我是一只豹子似的。
I didn’t give him a chance to get to me. I wastoo quick about jumping off the mule and grabbingsome stones.
没等它碰到我，我就十分迅速地跳下骡子，抓起几块石子。
I was lucky. The first stone I threw，and I threw ithard，caught the big dog between the eyes. He wentdown，yelling and rolling. Just as he got to his feet again，I hit him with another one. That was too much我的运气不错。我扔出的第一块石子--那块我使了很大劲儿扔出去的石子--正中它的两眼之间。它趴了下去，一边打滚，一边嚎for him. He turned tail then，and made for the cabin.
叫。当它正要重新站起来的时候，我的第二块石子又打中了它。这下子它可吃不消了。它调转尾巴冲向木屋。
But I wasn’t the only good stone - thrower inthe family. Arliss was only five，but I’d spent a lotof time showing him how to throw a stone. Now Iwished I hadn’t ，because about then a stone nearlytook my left ear off. And if I hadn’t jumped，out ofthe way in time，another would have hit me right inthe eye.
可是，我并不是家中唯一的掷石子高手。虽然小阿里斯才五岁，我已经化了不少时间教他怎样掷石子了。现在我多么希望我没有教过他啊！因为差不多就在这个时候一块石子飞了过来，差一点儿把我的左耳朵给削掉了。如果我没有及时跳到一边的话，另一块石子一定会正好打在我的眼睛上的。
I yelled，“Arlis s ，you s top tha t！”but Arlisswasn’t listening. He was too mad. He tried to pickup a stone that was quite big enough to kill me，butit was too big for him.
我大喝一声：“阿里斯，不准扔石子！”但是他根本不听。他气极了。他想拾起一块大得足以致我于死地的石头，但对他来说，那样的石头太大了。
When you’re fourteen years old，you can’t getinto a stone fight with your five - year - old brother.
Not even if you”re in the right. Your familywon’t think of that. They’ll just say you’re too bigto do that sort of thing to your little brother.
当你已经十四岁的时候，哪能再和一个五岁的弟弟用石块干仗呢？ 即使你有理也不能这样。家里人不会这样想的，他们会说，你那么大了，不能对你的小弟弟干那种事。
All I could do was turn tail like the yellow dogand make for the cabin，yelling for Mama. Right afterme came Little Arliss，running as fast as hecould and doing his best to get near enough to hitme with the big stone he was carrying.
我只能一面喊叫着妈妈，一面象那只黄狗一样转身朝木屋逃去，小阿里斯紧跟我身后面拼命追赶，想尽力靠我近些，好用他手里的那块大石头砸我。
Mama came running out fast.“Wha t on e a rth，boys ！”she asked.
妈妈飞快地从屋里跑出来。“孩子们，到底怎么回事啊？”她问道。
I shouted，“You”d be tte r ca tc h tha t Arlis s ！”as Iran past her. And she did. But Little Arliss was somad that I thought for a second he was going to hither with the stone before she could get it away fromhim.
我喊道：“你最好把阿里斯给抓住！”边叫边跑过她的身旁。她把他抓住了。但是阿里斯是如此地怒不可遏，一时间我简直以为在妈妈还没有来得及把那块石头夺走前他就要用它砸她了。
Well，in the end it turned out just the way Ithought it would. Mama told off Little Arliss for playingin our drinking - water. Then she told me offfor being so bossy with him. And she didn’t tell offthe big yellow dog who started it all.
最后，事情总算象我所想象的那样了结了。妈妈把小阿里斯责备一通，说他不应该在食用水里玩耍；接着又数落我的不是，说我对他太专横了。但她没有责备那个罪魁祸首--大黄狗。
It didn’t seem right to me. How could I be theman of the family if no one took any notice of whatI thought or said？
我感到这样对我是不公正的。
如果谁也不理会我的想法，不听我的话，我怎么能成为一家之主呢？
I took Jumper up to the cabin. I hung the deerin the oak tree beside the cabin and began cuttingup the meat.I thought of the fine shot. I’d madeand knew Mama ought to be pleased to hear aboutit. But what was the use of telling her？ Shewouldn’t take any notice of me-not until I didsomething she thought I shouldn’t have done. Thenit would be just as if I was no older than Little Arliss.
我把“跳高能手”牵到木屋前，把那只鹿挂在屋旁的橡树上，开始把肉一块块地割下来。我想起了我那得意的一枪，并且知道妈妈听到后一定会感到高兴的。但是告诉她这个又有什么用呢？ 她根本不把我放在心上，--只有在我做了她认为我不该做的事情时才想到我。那样，我好象与小阿里斯不过是一般大而已。
I felt sorry for myself all the time I worked on
我在割肉的时候一直感到很懊
the meat.The more I thought about it ，the madder Igot with the big yellow dog.
丧。我越想越生那只大黄狗的气。
I hung up the fresh cuts of meat in the dogrun，right where Old Yeller had stolen the hog meatthe night he came. That was a cool place for hangingfresh meat，and I thought，as well，that if hestole some more of our meat Mama would have tosee that we couldn’t keep him.
我把一块块割下的鲜肉挂在跑狗道那边，就挂在阿黄那天晚上到我家来偷猪肉吃的地方。那是一块可以挂放鲜肉的阴凉地方，而且我想如果它再偷吃我们的肉，那末妈妈就不得不想法把它赶走了。
But Old Yeller was too clever for that.Hechewed some of the deer’s leg bones that Mamathrew away，but not once did he even seem to smellthe meat I’d hung up.
然而阿黄对此却太机灵了。它啃了几根妈妈扔掉的鹿的腿骨，而对我挂在那儿的肉连嗅都没嗅过一次。